The Weeknd Brings Out Anitta and Playboi Carti, Premieres Several New Songs at Massive Concert in Brazil

The Weeknd doesn’t do something by half, and for his “ he rose to the second with cameos from Anitta and Playboi Carti, a large stage backlit with an infinite video display that will need to have been 100 toes tall, dozens of (after all) blinding lights, a YouTube world livestream of the present, and the premieres of a number of new songs which might be presumably from

The night’s present was mainly an evolution of the “After Hours Til Daybreak” live performance he delivered to North America in 2022 and, in an up to date kind, to Europe final yr: an enormous, virtually airport runway-like illuminated walkway extending from one finish of the stadium ground to a different, however with a a large, temple-like two-story constructing within the center, and an illuminated, cross-shaped stage on the reverse finish of the walkway from the video display.

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The battery of shrouded feminine dancers remained from the sooner phases of the tour, as did the stadium-filling mild present and its state-of-the-art lightshow, which flashed projected principally white and pink lights from a number of elevated areas of the stadium in addition to the stage and runway. He made full use of the towering video display, filling it with all the pieces from clouds to a cityscape, waterfalls to explosions, large cathedral-like home windows and even a freakishly large closeup of his personal eye.

As dazzling and crowd-pleasing because the staging and results have been, the setlist was one other matter: This was no hits extravaganza, however reasonably a form of remix-style set focusing virtually solely on materials from the “After Hours” trilogy, with numerous songs from the 2023 album “Daybreak.FM” and eight or 9 from the brand new album — which only a few individuals on this planet had heard earlier than this night time — together with a Travis Scott and Playboi Carti music throughout the latter’s several-minute-long cameo. (The brand new music they carried out collectively was later within the night time.) It was a daring transfer for an artist performing in from of 75,000-ish individuals and nevertheless many thousands and thousands on the livestream.

Equally daring is the extent of confidence it takes to fill a stage virtually solely by oneself. The Weeknd just isn’t an elaborate dancer and he doesn’t do many costume modifications — he spent this whole efficiency in a hooded black gown with elaborate embroidery — however lets his hovering, highly effective voice, the songs and the present carry the night time. He pumped up the gang in practically each music, with plenty of his trademark “Hey!”s and plenty of shout-outs to Sao Paulo, altering one lyric to ““I believe I discovered my faith in Sao Paulo!” The viewers sang alongside loudly via a lot of the present — for the songs they knew, anyway — and he led them in singalongs a number of instances throughout the set.

Not surprisingly, Brazilian native Anitta obtained an enormous roar from the gang when she appeared, dancing atop the temple in a vivid pink robe to a brand new music apparently known as “Sao Paulo.”

He cruised the present towards its finale with a kind of slow-jam R&B mini-set that includes “Out of Time” and “Is There Somebody Else?” earlier than main into an enormous chunk of “After Hours” that included the reside debut of the drum n’ bass-inflected “Hardest to Love” (he rode the music’s difficult rhythm with out lacking a beat), the ballad “Scared to Stay” and eventually “Save Your Tears,” earlier than crusing via “Much less Than Zero” and shutting, naturally sufficient, with an explosive model of “Blinding Lights.”

The present ended simply over 90 minutes after it started, however with a barely anticlimactic finale that the viewers anticipated to be an encore however as a substitute was a fleet of illuminated drones flying over the stadium, creating first a sheet of lights, then blinking, and eventually spelling out the title of the brand new album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow.”

Additionally on-brand for the Weeknd — who has given thousands and thousands of {dollars} to charities over the previous 5 years — he partnered with the U.N. World Meals Programme to contribute funds from the present to the XO Humanitarian Fund, which helps the group’s response to the worldwide starvation disaster. $1 native equal from every ticket offered will go to this trigger.

Large as Saturday’s live performance was, it’s solely the primary present within the rollout for the brand new album — subsequent month he’s touring Australia for the ultimate leg of the “After Hours” tour, and what comes subsequent stays to be seen.

Setlist
Fades to Black / Run Away (Unreleased music, reside debut)
Wake Me Up (Unreleased music, reside debut)
After Hours
Too Late (Stay debut; sings the road “It’s too late to avoid wasting my soul” just a few instances)
Take My Breath
Sacrifice (Swedish Home Mafia remix)
How Do I Make You Love Me?
Escape from LA (Sung over the outro of “How Do I Make You Love Me?”)
Take Me Again to LA (Unreleased music)
Dancing within the Flames (Unreleased music, reside debut)
Till I Bleed Out (Stay debut; he sings only some strains from the music earlier than transitioning to the subsequent music)
FE!N (Travis Scott cowl) (with Playboi Carti)
Till I Bleed Out (with Playboi Carti)
TIMELESS (Playboi Carti cowl) (with Playboi Carti) (Unreleased music, reside debut)
São Paulo (with Anitta) (Unreleased music, reside debut)
Heartless
Repeat After Me (Interlude) (Stay debut; sung over the outro of ‘Heartless’)
Let’s Finish It All (Unreleased music, reside debut)
Religion
Alone Once more
Run Away (Unreleased music)
Out of Time
Is There Somebody Else?
Hardest to Love (Stay debut)
Scared to Stay
Save Your Tears
Much less Than Zero
Blinding Lights
Hurry Up Tomorrow (Unreleased music, reside debut)

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